Palestinians say they may have no choice but to take Israel to Hague court

 The Palestinians declared Wednesday that they will have no choice but to complain about Israel to the International Criminal Court if the Jewish state proceeds with plans to build housing on land the Palestinians want for a future state.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the Middle East, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said his government's decision will largely depend on what the Israelis do with the so-called "E1" area outside the Arab suburbs of East Jerusalem.

"If Israel would like to go further by implementing the E1 (settlement) plan and the other related plans around Jerusalem then yes, we will be going to the ICC," he said. "We have no other choice. It depends on the Israeli decision."

The Palestinians have previously suggested that bringing their various disputes with Israel to the Hague-based court was an option, but Malki's remarks on Wednesday were the most direct threat his government has made against the Jewish state to date.

Israel can remove Palestinian protest tents: court

Israel's Supreme Court gave the government the go-ahead on Wednesday to remove tents Palestinian activists pitched on a patch of West Bank land marked for Jewish settlements.
On Sunday, Israeli police evicted 50 Palestinian protesters from the site, in the "E1" area outside the Arab suburbs of East Jerusalem, where Jewish settlements could split the Israeli-occupied West Bank in two.
But the activists' large, steel-framed tents remained standing in accordance with a court order banning the government from tearing them down while judges considered a Palestinian claim of ownership of land where the encampment was built.
In its new ruling, the court canceled its previous order and agreed with the government's argument that the tents could be a magnet for violent Palestinian protests.
The court, in a decision released by the Justice Ministry, noted that clashes broke out at the encampment on Tuesday, when Israeli police, using stun grenades, blocked protesters who had returned to the site and tried to reoccupy the tents.
Israel has drawn strong international criticism over plans to build settler homes in "E1".
For years it froze building in E1, which houses only a police headquarters, after coming under pressure from former U.S. President George W. Bush to keep the plans on hold.
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans late last year to expand settlements after the Palestinians won de-facto statehood recognition at the United Nations General Assembly in November.
Most countries view Jewish settlements in areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war as illegal and echo concerns voiced by Palestinians that building more settler homes could deny them a viable and contiguous state.

Palestinians say Israeli military shot dead teen at West Bank separation barrier

Palestinians say the Israeli military has shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian boy near the West Bank separation barrier.
A classmate said a group of students went to the barrier that Israel has built along and inside the West Bank to throw stones at soldiers. Muataz Awad says soldiers opened fire, killing Samir Awad from the village of Boudrous.
Doctors at Ramallah hospital say he was shot three times. They spoke anonymously according to regulations. The military had no immediate comment.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, about 50 armed Palestinians shut the main road into Balata refugee camp to protest Palestinian security forces' attempts to disarm them.
The gunmen have links to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement. Their recent protests draw attention to growing discontent with his rule.

Palestinian protest on land assigned for E1 settlement

Palestinians in the West Bank have pitched a protest camp where Israel plans to build new settlement homes.

Activists erected about 20 large tents on the patch of land known as E1, between Jerusalem and the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim.

Israeli plans to build in the area drew sharp criticism by members of the international community in December.

Palestinians say that building in E1 would jeopardise the contiguity of a Palestinian state.

Jewish settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

"We have set up 20 tents, and have enough equipment to stay here for a long time," Abir Kopty, spokeswoman for the Popular Struggle Co-ordination Committee, told AFP news agency.

"We are willing to stay here until we ensure the right of the [Palestinian] owners of the land to build on their lands," she said.

Hours after the group started setting up the camp, Israeli authorities issued an eviction order. However, Ms Kopty tweeted that the activists had obtained a High Court order suspending the eviction notice.

Israeli plans to develop the E1 area had been on hold for years until the Palestinians upgraded their status at the UN from an "entity" to that of a "non-member observer state", a move condemned by Israel and the US as a violation of peace accords.